How to disable Windows Defender Firewall in Windows 10 temporarily or forever? step by step guide

If you are a Windows 10 user, you will know that this version of that operating system has an antivirus that, by default, is installed on the computer and has the name “Windows Defender”. Which refers to a firewall or firewall dedicated to protecting the computer in terms of various types of networks.

In this sense, it is a very useful tool that manages to prevent the entry of malware through both incoming and outgoing connections. However, on several occasions, it becomes necessary disable this windows 10 firewall and that is why it is important to know the steps to follow to do it.

In this way, next, we want to indicate what is a firewall abouttaking into account its differences with the famous antivirus and also letting you know what are the most important reasons for which it is advisable to disable said security tool, either temporarily or forever.

What is a firewall and what is this tool used for?

Also called “firewall”, a firewall is a part of a system or network that has been specially designed to block or restrict unauthorized access and at the same time, facilitate authorized communications, either by Software or Hardware. All this, in order to protect your PC or any device from the risks of malware that are based on existing data or figures on the Internet.

In addition, a firewall has the ability to simultaneously admit, limit, encrypt, and decrypt traffic between the various domains based on a set of criteria. which is used to achieve prevent unauthorized Internet users from gaining access to private networks connected to the networkespecially intranets.

In this way, all the messages that access or leave the Intranet must pass through the firewall, in this case, through Windows Defender; so that it examines each message and proceeds to block all that do not meet the specified security standards.

In addition to this, it should be noted that these applications known as firewalls, have a set of tools that are automated and thus make use of some “white lists” with which they can verify which are the elements that they must admit and those that they have to reject.

Firewall vs Antivirus Are they the same thing? Main differences

Although it is true, there are two concepts in the computer world that can be considered by users as synonyms and, therefore, could become very confusing. This, mainly, because both are related to the security of computer systems and well, we refer to firewalls and antivirus.

However, despite the fact that they are security mechanisms designed to protect your system from any threat, the truth is that a firewall is not the same as an antivirus. Since firewalls are a low-level network security system that has been created and designed to restrict non-legitimate access while allowing authorized communications.

On the other hand, an antivirus is characterized as a software utility program that has been installed for a very specific purpose. This end, it is detect and remove viruses, malware, spyware or, in general, malicious programs from the system and in this way, it is how it protects the computer from strictly internal threats.

To understand a little more this difference between firewalls and antivirus. Next, we detail the main inequalities that must be taken into account for this:

• While firewalls with equipment installed on software or hardware that regulate access to networks or the intranetantiviruses are simply programs that can study, detect and clean the system when there is virus infection.
• Firewalls establish protocols with which classifies and supports the passing of information between the external network and the internal network. On the other hand, antiviruses do not work under established protocols, but have tools or functions to protect the computer from current or future infections.
• A firewall has the ability to encrypt or decrypt all data passing through it. But, what antivirus do is scan the system looking for possible infections in its files.

Why would you need to disable Windows Defender Firewall?

As it is a tool that works as a filter between the local computer and the network to protect your computer and thus prevent it from being more susceptible to infection with malware from the Internet, of course it is important to keep the Windows Defender application activated on the computer.

However, although this Windows firewall is enabled, by default; the truth is in certain specific situations, it is required to deactivate it. Surely you will ask yourself why and before that, we clarify that, in this way, it is how the majority of support or administrative tasks can be carried out, correctly.

Below, we detail the main reasons why you need to disable such a firewall:

To diagnose or solve a connection problem

Generally, when you experience network connectivity issues, you need to resort to disabling the Windows Defender app. In most cases, is done temporarily and once it is possible to study the existing breakdown or solve the problem in question; the firewall is re-enabled.

To install some software applications

Sometimes when you try to install some software application on your Windows 10 computer, An error occurs that does not allow to complete said process correctly. So, in order to carry out this installation, the temporary deactivation of the firewall of said operating system is required.

To analyze the threats of any virus

Although the firewall of any computer allows to protect it from any threat and its deactivation can be a big risk, actually it is also a mechanism that will help in this. Since, when you want to diagnose any threat and also study how a certain malware behaves, it is recommended and very useful to disable Windows Defender or any firewall.

Steps to disable WDefender firewall on your Windows 10 temporarily or forever

Once all of the above has been clarified, it is highly relevant to know how to disable windows 10 firewall and for this, here we indicate each step to execute in detail.

Taking into account that, luckily, it is a very simple process to carry out and also recommending that you only do this when strictly necessary and you are surein order to avoid contracting malware infections in a matter of seconds.

Access the Windows Defender Security Center

To get started, the first thing you should do is go to the WDefender Security Center. Which, you can do from the Start menu or from the icon of it in the initial window.

If you prefer to do it from the Start, simply type its name in the bar “Type here to search” and with just one click, you will access it. But if you want to do it through the shield-shaped icon of him, you can do it from the notification area.

Click on “Firewall and network protection”

Once you access the previous menu, you will see all the security options included in the Windows Defender Security Center, as well as performance and antivirus options. However, for this, you simply have to click on “Firewall and network protection” to proceed to disable any type of network you want.

Start disabling each type of network you require

By completing the above, you will access a new window where you can see that there are three types of networks, which you must enable or disable separately. Basically, it’s about the domain network, private network and public network.

Before continuing, to learn more about them, we clarify the following:

• The domain networks are the most common in any work environment.
• In the case of private networks, refer to those that are in more particular places. Like, for example, in your every.
• As for the public networks, are those that do not have a password. That is, those that are in public places such as a cafeteria.

Now, to start disabling WDefender Firewall, click on the first option or on “domain network” and there, you will see several sections.

Click the switch to disable the firewall in question

Once you enter “domain network“, for instance; You will see information about the ones that are active, the incoming connections and of course, the Windows Defender Firewall option.

Thus, to proceed to deactivate this option, you simply have to click the switch to disable the firewall and ready, a message will be issued “Windows Firewall is disabled. Tap or click to activate it”.

Taking into account that, by doing this, you have only disabled that type of network, so you need to repeat the process for the other two. For which, you must click on the arrow in the upper left corner to return to the previous window and continue with the deactivation.

Back to the firewall settings window

Later, you will see that this window looks a little different. Well, there is a new button that says “Restore settings” to re-enable the previously disabled network.

However, it is time to disable the system firewall on all other network types, i.e. for the private network and for the public network. As was done in the previous step, only by moving the switch to the left or clicking on it.

Bearing in mind that, for public networks it is not recommended to do sounless you are sure and this, because of the number of hackers you can expose yourself to.

Finally, the effect is immediate and from that very moment, the characteristic icon of the Windows 10 firewall application will show a new symbol with the indicating an alert or that something might be wrong.

Is it possible to re-enable the firewall after disabling it? How to do it?

When you proceed to deactivate the three types of networks for the W10 Firewall, you will wonder if there is the possibility of re-activating said firewall after that. Fortunately, if you can do it easily after completing the activity for which you required to carry out this action of importance in your team.

Now, it is important to delimit the step by step to carry out to be able to activate the firewall in question again. In this way, we detail here what you should do:

Enter the Windows Defender Security Center

In the same way as in the previous section, you have to enter the WDefender Security Center. Either from the Start menu or from the icon of it in the initial window. Of course, after completing network diagnostics, installing a certain application, scanning for a virus threat, etc.

Click on the “Restore Settings” button

Now, instead of scrolling through each network type section to activate the firewall as you deactivated it, you can re-enable all the options by simply clicking on that button that appears in the initial menu of “Firewall and network protection”.

In this sense, when clicking on “Restore settings”, you can see that, in a matter of seconds, all existing network types will be completely re-enabled as for the firewall in question. On the other hand, in the case of the other options, if you must do it for each type of network by clicking on the respective button “Activate”.

On the other hand, in case you prefer disable said firewall forever, there is no need to re-activate it or complete any additional procedures. Since, with doing the main deactivation, it will suffice. Despite, this is not recommended by experts.